Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-09-16
SIX-PACE EDITION.
GHOSTS ABOARD.


christened a name so peculiarly inappro-
pirate, We cannot say. She was tub, if
ever there was one. Such craft as she
they build by the mile and saw up into
lengths A floating coal-box, painted
black, with an engine and couple of boil
ers, a rudder and screw, some tarred rope
| and score of seamen of all nationalities
and no manners-there YOU have the
Valiant, and the thousand and one ships
of the same iik which fetch and carry the
riches OF the world. And that is the kind
Of ship, a warehouse afoat, that you NAV
cram with cargo from keel to hatchwav,
which, if money is to be made out of the
service, makes tia thing of ugliness and
a JOY forever to its owners; not by any
means to the crew, by the way-which can
be worked from port to port at minimum
! OF cost and a maximum of profit Pro-
visioned anyhow, rammed full of cargo.
manned In haste with a crew scraped off
the streets, no sooner is she fairly ahoat
than first this thing gives, then the other;
a boiier-piate is sprung, 4 bolt parts in the
rudder chain; but she pegs away, patched
and repatched out of all recoerition. and.
if trade is fairly alive, pays freeboard
dividend of 10 or 20 per cent voyage.
| On the 18th OF February we cleared out
of the Tyne, loaded to the muzzle with
coal, and bound for Venice We had
river pilot aboard, of course, and were
dragged out to sea, through the double
| Line of buoys and the crowd of shipping,
by little coffee-pot of tug. 1t was
| getting on in the afternoon before the last
of the coal had been whipped into us, and
We were in a frantic haste to save the tide.
| Our decks were about as foul sight as
| you could have set eyes on. The men
were groggy and in the sulks, as men al
ways are at the start of a fresh voyage
| The chief officer, Mr.. Marks, was in com
mand, for our new Captain had not vet ar
! rived from Newcastle. We were to lie out
] down the river, and the tug would fetch
him of when 1t brought us our fresh meat
| Mr.. Marks was parading the bridge in his
| 'longshore clothes and tall hat damned
| fast on the back of his head. for there was
| pretty brisk wind blowing in from the
| sea, that seemed to promise us some nasty
| weather outside. He was an elderly man.
| this Mr.. Marks, with patient eye, and
sandy goats beard. Mr.. Bubble, the second
mate, was q squat little man, heavily
bearded, who had run away from home to
follow the sea, and had never ceased re.
| GREETING il ever since, for, after bucket
ing" about ON three years cruise. he
| found himself too much of a salt to be
| happy ashore, and TOO heartily sick of the
| sea to be contented atioat. For the
| rest, our ships company consisted of
motley crew Of twelve seamen, half-a-dozen
stokers, three engineers, steward. cook,
and a cabin lad. a regular old seadog was
| our bo'sun, Jack Dredge, stumpy and
square, his brown weather-battered face
| framed in a ragged fringe of whiskers; one
| eye had foundered in his head, and there
| was nothing left but an eyelid and hole.
| The ball of it had been bitten one night in
| his sleep by furnishing rat, and had fest
cred and sloughed out He was in mid Pa
citic then, and the nearest surgeon thou
sand miles away. He was of tactiurn
disposition, and | fancy his temper had
been damaged in the West Indies by too
liberal allowance Of pepper in his curry.
In his last spell ashore-he was native
of Newcastle, where his wife and his lad
| Bill lived-the Salvationists had got hold
of him in the midst of one of his tremen-
dous drinking bouts, and had excited him
into state of religious frenzy, and in his
temporary exaltation he signed the pledge,
and, amid whIrlwind of applause, fetched
a bottle of rum out of his pocket, and,
smashing it on the platform, solemnly exc
cuted a hornpipe on the relics. When he
came to his senses next morning and re-
membered what lie had done, he swore at
himself like Il hurricane but kept the
pledge, though he maltreated fearfully
Jealous captain who called about break
fast time to see how their seafaring prose
lyte was progressing. -
4 Well, We hove-to down the river Just
where we could feel the lift of the sea l,n-
der our keel, and waited for the return Of
| the tug with our skipper. The sky was
banked up with clouds, and pretty stiff
wind was piping in from the nor nor east
The steam was at high pressure, and blow
ing off from the wastepipe by the funnel
We were little more ship-shape for the
men had been swabbing and swilling the
coal dust from the decks. At last The tug
steamed alongside, and Mr.. Marks received
the skipper as he swalmed up the rope
ladder, followed by his portmanteau and
umbrella. He was a dnpper little man,
and came aboard smoking a cigarette By
the time the fresh meat had been passed
across into the doctors (the sailors sobri-
quet for the cook hands the pilot was
ready to leave rs.
"Well, good night, Cap'n 7" sang Master
Pilot as he clambered over the side; good
night and bong voyage. Below there,
steadyp
The ropes were cast of, the engine-room
telegraph was rung, "slow ahead" and as
she got way ON her the Valiant was head
ed for the sea.
1t was dirty night, and not vestige
of moon. The sea was not very heavy,
but it was getting up under the nor easter,
and there was every sign of a wicked gale
brewing. As storms go, it is 4 toss up be-
tween nor'east squall and sou'east
gale for downright viciousness But to
fight Il noreast gale in the German ocean
aboard of coal hulk. with your lee shore
all shoals and sandbanks-well, there
aren't many things We wouldn't rather
do, if it were a matter of choice in
stead Of sheer necessity. Every now and
then would come Whit of rain, and there
was no lodging it, for the weather-cloths
had not yet been rugged up round the
bridge. \ quiet pipe, smoked in the hol-
low of the hand, was the only solace in the
dreary night-watches. Steering southeast,
we got Nhltby Light abeam by midnight
and at . A. NJ. the log showed run of Ga
miles. The skipper was up and about all
night on the alert for the shore-lights, and
though ut first he seemed bit of dandy,
he was seaman to the backbone Day
broke AT last over a tumbling sea. What
with keeping the watches, overhauling
the decks fore and aft, battcniug down the
matches and making all slip-shape. there
was plenty TO 90 ON that first day at sea to
keep us from thinking to fondly of the
girls We had left behind us There was
not patch of sun to be seen; nothing but
cloud and sea, sea and cloud And the
wind came screeching from the nor east,
swirling the rain and spray about our
decks. 1t was bitter time that day for
the officer of the watch, oilskins notwith-
standing. But the men seemed the better
for their wetting, and the cheerier; the fit
of land sulks was tumbled ont of them
and when the Swede Jansen, slitherinr
cautiously along the wet iron deck for'ard
with his kid of pea-soup and potatoes un-
der one arm, was capsized by sudden
lurch of the ship. he and his dinner rolling
l a Il